§ MR. SAMPSON LLOYDasked the First Lord of the Admiralty, Whether his attention has been called to the cases of the following officers in the Royal Marine Light Infantry, That (unless the long hoped-for scheme of promotion and retirement in this corps intervene) the senior Lieutenant-Colonel must compulsorily retire in March 1877 on a pension 1070 much less than such scheme would probably accord to him, or than he would have received had he served with similar rank and length of service in another corps; that (unless such scheme intervene) the Lieutenant-Colonel next in seniority must retire shortly afterwards through age, missing his next step by some four or five days, and consequently missing the higher rate of retiring allowance to which he would otherwise have been entitled; further, that a Captain in this corps has been permitted to accept an appointment which frees him from regimental duty for seven years, during which time he is marked on the roster as "not available for foreign service." That because this officer is not made a supernumerary (as would have been the case had he belonged to any other corps) the senior subaltern officer who has served seventeen years as such, is kept out of his hardly earned promotion; whether, considering the very long delay which has taken place in the publication of the report of the Royal Commission, he can give the House any assurance that the cases of these officers will be favourably and specially considered during the recess?
§ MR. HUNT,in reply, said, the Report of the Army Commission on Promotion and Retirement having been presented he should lose no time in submitting a scheme to the Treasury with regard to the Royal Marines. He was, however, unable at present to say how far such a scheme would affect the interests of the particular officers mentioned by his hon. Friend.